Troupers: Ferri Bond, Marylin Nash, Colleen O’Toole and Ben Mitchell get into character for Theatre of the Winged Unicorn.
JOHN VAN KLAVEREN
Despite perception as being a football town, Geelong has always had a strong arts and culture core.
The strength of the case for funding the city’s new arts and culture precinct can thank the many small theatre companies, musical groups and individuals who keep Geelong’s arts lights shining.
One of them is Elaine and Denis Mitchell’s Theatre of the Winged Unicorn at Ceres.
The couple have pursued their labour of love for more than 20 years, offering hundreds of local actors, musicians and stage hands opportunities to learn about their respective crafts.
“We’re a very intimate theatre. We work in the round with small audiences,” Elaine confided.
“We have a pool of about 100 actors we call on as well as musicians from jazz to classical.
“Part of what we want to do is extend people’s skills and confidence.”
Elaine said the company’s current production, What the Dickens!, was a case in point.
“There’s a team of 15 actors working on this and we have thrown them a whole lot of characters. The actors have had to do a lot of research into the production.
“But we’ve also watched them develop because they rise to the challenge.” Elaine described the production as an entertaining evening with a kaleidoscope of characters playing out scenes from 12 of Charles Dickens’ novels.
Classic Dickensian characters such as Mr Pickwick, Miss Havisham, Mr Guppy, Mrs Gamp, Scrooge, Madame Defarge, Lizzie Hexam and Little Dorrit grace the stage.
Theatre of the Winged Unicorn has a varied program but favours work from the 19th Century classics.
Elaine said the company aimed to be self-reliant in its production of quality classical and original work presented in “creative artistic performances”.
The company presents its shows in the historic sandstone Ceres Hall, built in 1862.
“The best way for people who may be interested in the theatre is to come along and see how we work and what we do,” Elaine said.
“We don’t hold major auditions but we’re happy to have people come and talk to us.”
Elaine said What the Dickens! would run from May 13 to May 22.
She offered two tickets to anyone interested in joining the company.
Elaine said more information about joining Theatre of the Winged Unicorn was available by phoning 5249 1350, emailing nimbus.em@hotmail.com or visiting www.theatreofthewingedunicorn.com.au.
